Archduke Franz Karl Joseph of Austria (17 December 1802 – 8 March 1878) was a member of the

House of Habsburg-Lorraine The House of Habsburg-Lorraine (german: Haus Habsburg-Lothringen) originated from the marriage in 1736 of Francis III, Duke of Lorraine and Bar, and Maria Theresa of Austria, later successively Queen of Bohemia, Queen of Hungary, Queen of ...

. He was the father of two emperors:

Franz Joseph I of Austria Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I (german: Franz Joseph Karl, hu, Ferenc József Károly, 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the other states of the Habsburg monarchy from 2 December 1848 until ...

and

Maximilian I of Mexico Maximilian I (german: Ferdinand Maximilian Josef Maria von Habsburg-Lothringen, link=no, es, Fernando Maximiliano José María de Habsburgo-Lorena, link=no; 6 July 1832 – 19 June 1867) was an Austrian archduke who reigned as the only Emperor ...

. Through his third son Karl Ludwig, he was the grandfather of

Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria Archduke Franz Ferdinand Carl Ludwig Joseph Maria of Austria, (18 December 1863 – 28 June 1914) was the heir presumptive to the throne of Austria-Hungary. His assassination in Sarajevo was the most immediate cause of World War I. Fr ...

– whose

assassination Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have ...

sparked the hostilities that led to the outbreak of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

– and the great-grandfather of the last Habsburg emperor

Karl I Charles I or Karl I (german: Karl Franz Josef Ludwig Hubert Georg Otto Maria, hu, Károly Ferenc József Lajos Hubert György Ottó Mária; 17 August 18871 April 1922) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary (as Charles IV, ), King of Croatia, ...

Life

Early life and marriage

Franz Karl was born in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, the third son of Emperor Francis II of the Holy Roman Emperor by his second marriage with Princess

Maria Theresa Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina (german: Maria Theresia; 13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780) was ruler of the Habsburg dominions from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position '' suo jure'' (in her own right) ...

from the

House of Bourbon The House of Bourbon (, also ; ) is a European dynasty of French origin, a branch of the Capetian dynasty, the royal House of France. Bourbon kings first ruled France and Navarre in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Spani ...

, daughter of King

Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies Ferdinand I (12 January 1751 – 4 January 1825) was the King of the Two Sicilies from 1816, after his restoration following victory in the Napoleonic Wars. Before that he had been, since 1759, Ferdinand IV of the Kingdom of Naples and Ferdinand I ...

and Maria Carolina of Habsburg-Lorraine. On 4 November 1824 in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, he married Princess Sophie of Bavaria from the

House of Wittelsbach The House of Wittelsbach () is a German dynasty, with branches that have ruled over territories including Bavaria, the Palatinate, Holland and Zeeland, Sweden (with Finland), Denmark, Norway, Hungary (with Romania), Bohemia, the Electorate ...

, a daughter of King

Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria Maximilian I Joseph (german: Maximilian I. Joseph; 27 May 1756 – 13 October 1825) was Duke of Zweibrücken from 1795 to 1799, prince-elector of Bavaria (as Maximilian IV Joseph) from 1799 to 1806, then King of Bavaria (as Maximilian I Joseph) ...

by his second wife

Caroline of Baden Caroline of Baden (german: Friederike Karoline Wilhelmine von Baden; 13 July 1776 – 13 November 1841) was by marriage an Electress of Bavaria and later the first Queen consort of Bavaria by marriage to Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria. Life E ...

. Sophie's paternal half-sister,

Caroline Augusta of Bavaria Princess Caroline Augusta of Bavaria (german: Karoline Auguste; Mannheim, 8 February 1792 – 9 February 1873 in Vienna) was Empress of Austria by marriage to Francis I of Austria. She was a daughter of King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria and ...

was by this time Franz Karl's stepmother, having married his thrice-widowed father in 1816. The Wittelsbachs condoned the unappealing manners of Sophie's husband in consideration of the incapability of his elder brother

Ferdinand Ferdinand is a Germanic name composed of the elements "protection", "peace" (PIE "to love, to make peace") or alternatively "journey, travel", Proto-Germanic , abstract noun from root "to fare, travel" (PIE , "to lead, pass over"), and "co ...

and Sophie's chance to become Austrian Empress. Franz Karl was an unambitious and generally ineffectual man, although he was, together with his uncle Archduke Louis, a member of the ''Geheime Staatskonferenz'' council, which after the death of Emperor Francis II ruled the

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central- Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence, ...

in the stead of his mentally ill brother Ferdinand from 1835 to 1848. The decisions, however, were actually made by the Minister of State

Prince Klemens Wenzel von Metternich Klemens Wenzel Nepomuk Lothar, Prince of Metternich-Winneburg zu Beilstein ; german: Klemens Wenzel Nepomuk Lothar Fürst von Metternich-Winneburg zu Beilstein (15 May 1773 – 11 June 1859), known as Klemens von Metternich or Prince Metternic ...

and his rival Count Franz Anton von Kolowrat-Liebsteinsky. His wife Sophie had already transferred her ambitions, when she urged Franz Karl to renounce his claims to the throne at the time of his brother's abdication on 2 December 1848, allowing their eldest son Franz Joseph I to take the throne.

Death and burial

Archduke Franz Karl died in Vienna in 1878, six years after the death of his wife. He is buried at the

Imperial Crypt The Imperial Crypt (german: Kaisergruft), also called the Capuchin Crypt (''Kapuzinergruft''), is a burial chamber beneath the Capuchin Church and monastery in Vienna, Austria. It was founded in 1618 and dedicated in 1632, and located on the Neu ...

at the Capuchin Church. Franz Karl was the last Habsburg whose

viscera In biology, an organ is a collection of tissues joined in a structural unit to serve a common function. In the hierarchy of life, an organ lies between tissue and an organ system. Tissues are formed from same type cells to act together in a f ...

were entombed at the

Ducal Crypt The Ducal Crypt (german: Herzogsgruft) is a burial chamber beneath the chancel of Stephansdom in Vienna, Austria. It holds 78 containers with the bodies, hearts, or viscera of 72 members of the House of Habsburg. History Before his death at age ...

of St. Stephen's Cathedral and whose heart was placed at the '' Herzgruft'' of the Augustinian Church according to a centuries-long family rite.

Honours and awards

He received the following awards:
Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Kaiserthumes Österreich
' (1878), Genealogy p. 5

Issue

Ancestors

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Franz Karl Of Austria, Archduke 1802 births 1878 deaths Nobility from Vienna House of Habsburg-Lorraine Austrian princes Knights of the Golden Fleece of Austria Grand Crosses of the Order of Saint Stephen of Hungary Recipients of the Order of St. Anna, 1st class Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Russia) Burials at the Imperial Crypt Burials at St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna Sons of emperors Children of Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor Sons of kings